Kyi May Kaung's poem "Airplane"

My reading in Lafayette Square -
June 22, 2012

Here is the poem - 

Intro:  The Kama Sutra has a section on torture at the end - Shah Jahan, of course, built the Taj Mahal, but was imprisoned and tortured there by his son and successor Aurangzeb - The other references such as "airplane" - "walking on a seashore", "iron roads peeling" and "wet submarine" are based on actual torture methods and positions based on survivor accounts.  I wrote this poem in 1994. 

Airplane -

Twenty forms of torture
starting from the Kama Sutra
the body is lashed by the hair
till all the bones break
without
breaking the skin -
the Indic monarchs
were nothing
if not
cruel.

In a jataka
the son
tortured his father
cut the soles of his feet
packing them
in salt.

Shah Jahan
in the Red Fort
gazing at the Taj Mahal
Mumtaz Mahal
those who die sooner
escape sooner

some day I just might
jump from this window

arms spread spun from the ceiling
from a fan
walking on a seashore
of broken glass
shards.

The punishment
never fits
the crime.
Irons roads
peeling
the skin
from my shins --
wet submarine
my head submerged
till I struggle up
my head
about to burst --

the kindest are
the most cruel.

Copyright Kyi May Kaung -

My poetry chapbooks Pelted with Petals:  The Burmese Poems and Tibetan Tanka are $5 and $7 respectively, + postage and handling -